The Osceola times., 1887-08-06

| ''N'"' anu IL Is Impossible iof
the ordinary man TO detect the diff.
Terence between it and the original.
1t was engraved by Smith, man
who had worked for years for
the engraving Office in New York which
engraved the Government money.
There were three men in the scheme,
smith, Brockway and DOYLE. Smith
was the engraver, Brockway the man.
ager and brains of he plot, and Doyle
was to be the shower. Smith was one
OF the finest engravers in the United
States, and he said that he worked
three years on the plate for this bond.
lie lived in Brooklyn and did his work
there. After they were completed
Doyle started out to circulate them.
lie was captured with the bonds in his
possession on a railroad train Just be-
fore reaching Chicago. He had $i7,-
900 in counterfeit money upon his per-
son, and if he had had but few min
utes more he would have disposed of
his bonds. Smith got off by turning
States evidence and Brockwav man
aged to escape on the same grounds.
Doyle got twelve years in the peniten-
tiary and Brockway is now serving n
fiye years sentence for having forged
some railro d bonds. Smith confessed
while on trial that he had been coun-
terfeit.ng all the time that he had been
working for the Government, and it
was found that he had been counter
feiting 500 bills. | here looked at
specimen of Smiths counterfeiting.
His 500 bills would pass any where.
and the guard tells me that one of the
lady counters detected this from her
familiarity with his work as a Govern
ment engrayer. Like a mans hand
writing, he could not disguise his orig
inality.
"llave any other of the Government
bonds been counterieitedp" ! asked the
guard.
Yes; there was . counterfeit several
years ago of the old 7-30 issue. Jay
and the Treasury Department re-
deemed $4,000 Of them before their
character was discovered. The Gov
ernment had to enter suit to recover
the money, but it did so, and the banks
had to stand the loss The most coun-
terfeiting is done in connection with
small notes--ones, twos, iives and one
hundreds. Less care is needed in pass
ing these, as people do not look at them
so closely. Here, however, is curl
osity."
And the man held up $50 green
back.
That bill is one of the best counter
feits in circulation, and it is made en-
tirely with the pen. Every line and dot,
with all the shades of green, black and
red of the regular $50 greenback. are
reproduced here with skill that is
marvellous. We can not find the
counterfeiter, and he has been circu-
latiug these bills for years. There can
not be much profit in the counterfeit,
for it would certainly take many days
and probably weeks to pen out one of
these billsh
Look at this 800 BILL" the blonde
haired, thick-set guard went on.
THAT looks as though it would pass,
does it not?n
Yes said I.
well, sir. that is n S. national bank
note raised to 500, and this raising of
bills is very common. Here is a 81
raised to SO, and 81 to $20. The plan
is to erase whatever may be necessary
to the change from the bill by means
of acids and other chemicals, and then
TO put in new amounts by prints or
sometimes with the pen. Such bills do
not deceive men who are accustomed
to handle money, but they pass easily
in the country districts. 1t is in the
country that the most counterfeiting is
done and p ssed. The banks of the city
are expert and wary. and there is dam
ger of detection"
next picked up some S. notes, and
the guard, picking up u 50, went on.
That" said he. 'is very dangerous
counterfeit, and the plates from which
it was produced are so near like the
genuine that they are almost perfect.
We got $40, 900 of this money when we
captured the man who made them, and
there was great deal in circulation.
Some was sent here for redemption
and we detected the fraud by micro
scopic examination. The trouble was
that the same plate was used for six or
eight different banks. They were made
So that the name of the bank could be
chang d, and when it was advertised
over the country that there were coun-
terfeits of such bank issue, they
changed the name of the bank and
were thus enabled to get more upon
the market"
"Iiow about the bank note paper?
Can that be counterfetedP"
YES; Tom Ballard got thirty years
for succeeding at this. We convicted
him on two indictments for counter
feiting, and sent him to the Albany
Penitentiary for thirty years. "
IL notice that all this countcsieit
money has the word bad cut into
them
Yes, we cut all counterfeit money
that way as soon as it is received, and
we ruin the plates by gouging grooves
through the engraving. | looked at
the engraved plates at this point and